I love organic gardening with essential oils. Therefore, anytime I can address fungal threats and pests with non-toxic, chemical free alternatives, I’m a happy gardener. Let’s explore all the ways we can effectively use essential oils in the garden.

Organic Gardening With Essential Oils

Rosemary

The woodsy scent of Rosemary may help repel garden pests. Simply put a drop or two on a few pieces of broken clay pot and scatter the pieces around your garden. You’ll need to reapply the Rosemary essential oil to the clay pieces every few days, or after a rain.

Peppermint

The sweet scent of peppermint essential oil sends aphids, flies, and spiders running in the opposite direction. Our DIY Peppermint Essential Oil Garden And Home Spray is easy to make!

Easy Peppermint Essential Oil Garden And Home Spray

Use 4 drops of Peppermint essential oil per 2 ounces of water in a spray bottle on the leaves of plants. Shake often. You can even use this spray indoors around your baseboards and doorways to get rid of spiders.

DIY Organic Gardening With Essential Oils Spray

Unlike the easy peppermint essential oil garden and home spray above, our DIY Organic Gardening Essential Oil Bug Spray is meant to be sprayed directly on bugs. I’m adding this to my arsenal of squash bug defense this year. Ugh. Squash bugs. I’m an organic gardener and do NOT want to have to resort to chemicals to control the squash bug population.

It contains:

Orange Essential Oil

The D-limonene found in orange essential oil is harmless to humans, but deadly to most insects.
Because D-limonene dissolves the waxy coating on the exoskeleton of insects, they die of asphyxiation and dehydration.

Cedarwood Essential Oil

Virginian Cedarwood’s claim to fame in the bug killing business is it’s ability to disrupt octopamine, a compound that pheromone bugs need to live. Consequently, Cedarwood is bad news for ticks and fleas, but safe to use around kids!

Unlike the Peppermint Essential Oil Garden Spray above, this gets sprayed directly on the bug, not all over the leaves. It may take a moment before they die, but dead they will be.

Have you been thinking of using essential oils in the garden? Need to order a couple to get you started? Here’s how you can order Young Living Essential Oils, like I use.

If you are interested, I’m running a special deal on your first order of a Young Living Premium Kit. I’ll refund you $25.00 either in the form of an Amazon Gift Card or Pay Pal. I also provide you with weekly information via email to help you build a solid foundation with your new essential oils.

The Israeli Bandage was created by the Israeli Defense Force to save lives during combat. The pressure applicator on an Israeli Bandage exerts 30 pounds of pressure to a wound area, effectively treating the bleeding from a traumatic hemorrhagic wound. A sterile dressing that can be used for many kinds of wounds, it should be in every emergency kit.

What Can The Israeli Bandage In Your Emergency Kit Do?

The Israeli Bandage is highly versatile. Use it for puncture wounds, deep lacerations, and even gunshot wounds. The wrap will bind a splint in place, and used as a tourniquet.

How To Use An Israeli Bandage

1. First, open the outer and sterile inner packaging.

2. Next, place the sterile pad over the wound in such a way that the pressure applicator is off set, or to the side of the wound. Use the the long end of the wrap to wrap over the sterile pad, and under and over the pressure applicator, wrapping tightly.

3. Use the closure bar to keep the emergency bandage closed.

Confused? Don’t worry. You’ll find the simple to follow directions for the emergency bandage on the back of every package package.

PRO TIP: Purchase an extra Israeli Bandage to practice with. Also, teach your kids how to place an Israeli Bandage.

How This Bandage Can Save You Money and Space In Your Emergency Kit.

Because you add this emergency wrap to your first aid kit, you can remove triangular bandages, large dressings, and bulky rolls of gauze.

Wondering how to make a two tone melt and pour soap recipe? Well, I’m happy to tell you that it’s much easier than you think. My two tone Honey Calendula Melt and Pour Soap Recipe will show you how to make a vertically layered soap.

Ingredients For Two Tone Melt and Pour Soap Recipe

Calendula Petals (Now, most botanicals wind up looking like dead bugs in melt and pour soap. While Canlendua Petals do the best, they aren’t perfect. This is a soap you are going to want to USE, not sit out as a decoration. Just sayin’. And with all the goodies in this bar, why wouldn’t you run off to the tub with it asap?)

$25.00 OFF Your Young Living Essential Oil Purchase

It’s no secret that I only use Young Living Essential Oils. I believe in these oils so much, that I’m running a special offer giving you a $25.00 REBATE when you purchase your first Young Living Premium Starter Kit. Learn all about this deal in our How To Order Young Living Essential Oils post.

The Method For Honey Calendula Two Tone Melt and Pour Soap

Chop the translucent melt and pour soap into chunks and put them in the pyrex measuring cup. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat until soap is totally melted.

Add calendula petals. (I added about 3 Tablespoons, you can add more or less.) Stir the calendula petals and soap until soap cools down enough to allow the petals to be suspended. (About 60 degrees.) Add Young Living Lemon Essential Oil and stir. Pour soap into molds and allow to set up and harden.

Pop out the bars of calendula soap. Using a *this post contains affiliate linksbread dough scraper, cut each bar evenly in half. The dough scraper will help you make sure your cut is straight and even. I find this is MUCH easier done with the scraper than with a knife.

Let the soap halves dry overnight.

Pouring The Honey Side Of This Melt And Pour Soap Recipe

Put the halves of calendula soap back into the mold, one half per mold. Press the soap halves tightly into each mold.

Cut the Honey Melt and Pour Soap Base into chunks and microwave in 30 second bursts until melted. Add in 2 teaspoons of Manuka Honey and stir until melted. Add Orange essential oil.

OPTIONAL: Add ONE drop of yellow soap colorant to enhance the color of the honey melt and pour soap base.

When the honey base is about 120 degrees, use the finger of one hand press down the calendula soap half down as you pour the honey side of the soap. Spritz with alcohol to remove any bubbles. Continue with the rest of the soap.

PRO TIP: Spritz the cut side of the calendula soap before you pour the melted honey base. This will help both sides stick.

Lookie There! You Did It!

See, it’s easier than you thought, isn’t it? Okay, so it took a minute to get that pesky honey soap base temperature thing nailed. But, it was SO worth it! And when someone asks you how you made this bar, just smile and reply; “Magic”.

Hosting A Make And Take?

I think these two tone bars would be terrific for a Make And Take. What I would do, is pour the calendula side the night before and cut the halves. Then the next day your guest will only have to melt the honey base, add the honey, scent and pour! Viola!

Do You Love To Pin?

Would you (pretty please) share this melt and pour soap recipe on Pinterest for us? 60 seconds and your good deed for the day is DONE! Thank you!

The 2018 hurricane season is predicted to be even worse than 2017. It seems like every year people wait until the storm warnings begin to think about getting prepared. Don’t find yourself standing in long lines for the bare basics to survive hurricane season. Get your family ready now.

Don’t Fall For These Hurricane Myths

First of all, lets get some of the myths associated with hurricanes out of the way, shall we?

Myth #1:Tape Your Windows Before A Hurricane. Nope. When high winds hit an untaped window, the pieces of glass shatter into a zillion pieces. However, when high winds hit a taped window, the pieces of glass break into big pieces that could really do damage to you. The zillion little pieces might take longer to clean up, but at least you’ll still be able to clean them up.

Myth #2:Crack Open Your Windows To Stabilize Pressure. Buildings aren’t airtight. They aren’t going to explode during a hurricane. But, opening a window will allow violent wind into your home. And when that wind gets in, it’s going to look for a violent way out.

Myth #3:I Only Need To Board Up The Windows Facing The Water Since when do hurricane winds only blow in one direction? Plus, boarding up your windows protects things from the outside flying through your windows into you home. BTW, if you do plan to board up your windows, have them pre-cut and ready to go.

PRO TIP:*this post contains affiliate links Each window you board up will require 4 windstormwindowclips. Get them before the storm season starts.

Myth #4:Leaning Against A Door Or Window Being Blown In By Wind Pressure Will Save It From Breaking. Blink. For the love of Pete, if it looks like a window or door is bending due to fierce winds, get the hell away from it.

How To Survive Hurricane Season

It’s important to be stay informed during hurricane season, and be aware of potential storms. You are going to need to know when to evacuate and have a plan in place of where to go. Learn Community Evacuation routes and how to quickly get to higher ground.

Assign A Safe Room

Decide on which room in your home will be your ‘safe room’ to wait out the storm if things get dicey. Store your hurricane emergency there too.

Monitor Hurricane Conditions With A Phone App

The American Red Cross has a Hurricane app that allows you to monitor conditions in your area, find help, and let others know you are okay.

Have A Hurricane Emergency Kit

The first step in your Hurricane Emergency Kit is for each family member needs to have a 72 Hour Kit that is ready to go in case you need to evacuate. Bonus points if your 72 hour kits include sleeping bags too. Our post on Simple 72 HourKits will walk you through this.

Water

Because of potential flooding contaminating the local water supply, it is important to have enough water on hand to get you through 2 weeks. That comes out to be 14 gallons of water per person. And that is only enough for drinking.

Pro Tip: *this post contains affiliate links A good item to have on hand in this category is a Water Bob. Simply unfold the Water Bob into your bathtub and fill it with 100 gallons of clean water from the faucet. Without enough water you are not going to survive hurricane season.

Food

Two weeks of food for each person in your family. Stock up on items that can simply be heated up, or items that only require hot water to create a complete meal.

Powerless Cooking

The odds of the power going out during and after a hurricane are high. Having a safe way to cook indoors, even if it is just heating stuff up, is important to be able to survive hurricane season. I really like these GAS ONE Butane Stoves. Please,stock up on fuel too.

Weather Radio

Portable/Solar Chargers

Cell phones can be true life savers during disasters, as long as they are charged, and cell towers are still up. A portable charging station is a necessity. It’s also a good idea to have a land line during a disaster.

Battery Operated Fans

It’s summer. It’s humid. There’s no power and nerves are fried. Having a battery operated fan for each family member will make life much more survivable.

Generator and Fuel

I know these are expensive. I also know that during extended emergencies they save lives. If there is anyway you can manage it, get your self a generator. If you already have a generator make sure it’s in working order.

PRO TIP: Want to learn more abouthow to survive hurricane season? Ready.gov has got some great information to help increase your preparedness.

Have you ever experienced a hurricane? What were your most needed preps? What did you wish you had?

Emergency Planning Basics

Food Storage

We are grab and go breakfast people at our house. Since my kids were little, the best way to make sure everyone at my house got a good breakfast was to have ready made items like muffins, stashed away in the freezer. Luckily, this Ham and Cheese Egg Muffin Recipe is super easy to make […]

Alternate Uses

Why Worry About Preparing?

Preparedness for a disaster makes a lot of sense. With recent and predicted events like Hurricane Sandy, The Colorado Wildfires, Fiscal Cliffs, and rising food and gas costs just in 2012 there is no denying that things are changing in our world. Whether or not you believe "The End of the World As We Know It" is near there are plenty of everyday things to worry about: loss of a job, health emergency, local weather events to name a few.

I find that I worry less about the big "what if's" out there the more emergency planning my family does to deal with the unexpected. I will share the survival tips and tricks I have learned while on this preparedness journey and hope that you join in with lots of comments. We all have a lot to learn from one another.

Now, lets get started prepping! Pick a post and start reading. At the end of every post the blog randomly selects three more survival posts for you to check out. Set aside 10 minutes a day to build your preppers knowledge base. We can never be done learning or prepping, right?